Moving, Taxes, and Freelance Writing

Quite frankly, moving sucks. It sucks even more for a freelance writer who–I’m talking about ME here–stupidly schedules a move both in the ass end of winter in Chicago AND before tax time. This guarantees that all my vital paperwork will go missing until I have to file an extension with the IRS.

The upside is, in my case, I get a nicer office, a great place to spend the majority of my day, and a sunny front room where I can go to take a break from it all and take in some sunshine before going back to the salt mines.

Here’s the advice every single writer dispenses once they’ve screwed themselves by moving without thinking ahead: Pack all your vital papers, put them aside and keep them close. Don’t let anyone take them out of your sight. You’ll want to drink a bottle of sulphuric acid later if you lose ‘em.

Now here’s the advice you WON’T get–the EXCLUSIVE good insider dirt you come to expect from Freelance-Zone.com. Ready?

Let’s face it, movers aren’t always the most graceful human beings on the planet. If they were, they’d be dancing in the Bolshoi, wouldn’t they? Ever see a ballerina hoisted into the air by one of those guys in tights? Don’t snicker at the funny getup, he’s as strong as a frickin’ OX. If he were a klutz, he’ d probably be…you guessed it…moving furniture.

So what happens when you entrust all your home office gear to the guys in the boiler suits? Well, you could find yourself on the receiving end of some damaged goods. Everybody makes mistakes, drops things, drinks from the wrong bottle, whatever.

Here’s the rub. The moving company is usually not liable for damage to computers or items with working parts when it comes to the inner workings of those moving parts. Unless there’s a big smashed display to point to and say “You broke it!” you are out of luck. So what is a poor freelancer to do?

You have two choices. You can either move the sensitive stuff yourself, or you can ask your tax preparer about writing off broken equipment and the replacements you purchase. Restaurants have a breakage column, why not freelancers? But ASK-don’t assume you can automatically write this stuff off. Tax laws change all the time and you may not get the same break you did last year or two years ago. There are plenty of websites out there with outdated information, don’t trust anything til you get it from the mouth of a tax pro.

I moved all my own equipment. There’s no way I could entrust a Mac to anybody else…